Denver Broncos vs Washington Redskins: Four storylines to follow
By Andrew Wade
Who takes the majority of snaps at back?
Throughout preseason we have seen a number of backs getting carries in the first half. Most notably, Devontae Booker, Royce Freeman, and Philip Lindsay have been toting the rock early in the game.
While Booker is the starter, Freeman has been dominating the touches early. Lindsay has been spelling the two sparingly but mostly coming in after the night’s work is done. Meanwhile, the forgotten two, De’Angelo Henderson and David Williams, typically are not seeing the field until the second half.
It’s not uncommon in today’s NFL to use a running back by committee approach, but that doesn’t appear to be Bill Musgrave’s style. Despite the small sample size, in the six games Musgrave served as offensive coordinator last season, C.J. Anderson received 15 or more carries five times. In both games, he received over 20, Denver won.
In Musgrave’s two years in Oakland, he rode Latavius Murray whenever he could. Murray led the Raiders in rushing with 266 carries in 2015. This number is 233 higher than the second leading rusher, Derek Carr. Furthermore, Murray more than doubled the second leading rusher, DeAndre Washington in carries in 2016 despite missing two games and playing sparingly in another two.
Needless to say, the committee approach is just a way of evaluating each back this preseason. While the coaching staff has been singing Booker’s praises, Freeman is clearly the best pure workhorse back on the roster. With the first-team offense playing at least the first half of the game, it will be interesting to see how the carries shake out.
Denver is still evaluating the backs, but who receives the most carries in the first half of play will go far in providing clarity to Broncos Country who is the front-runner for the job.